A MARRIED NHS manager, awarded more than £800,000 after her career was destroyed by a boss whose amorous advances she spurned, has told of her four years of “hell”.

Helen Marks was branded a ‘whore’ by Alan Baines, the chairman of the health trust where she worked

Helen Marks was branded a “whore” by bullying Alan Baines, the chairman of the health trust where she worked, an employment tribunal heard.

He forced her out of her job as a £99,000-a-year human resources director, which she had successfully carried out for nearly 10 years.

When his scheming was about to be exposed he “colluded” with the trust’s chief executive to cover it up before leaving with his good name intact.

The scandal has left the taxpayer with a £1.5million bill – yet no one involved has been disciplined. Speaking after the “landmark” tribunal ruling that awarded her more than £832,000, Helen revealed how she was driven to the brink.

“I’ve been through hell and have to live with this every day,” she said. “I dream about what happened at night.”

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The scandal has left the taxpayer with a £1.5million bill – yet no one involved has been discipline

The mother-of-two, who has been left with mental health problems, was an award-winning HR manager at Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust where “machismo” was said to be commonplace.

Last week, shamed chief executive Steve Trenchard walked away from his post with a £75,000 pay-off after pocketing £90,000 while suspended for seven months.

The trust spent £424,000 on legal fees and investigations trying to fight the claims.

The total bill paid for by taxpayers is £1,422,000 and rising.

The new interim chair has apologised, claiming “lessons have been learned”.

But that has come too late for Helen, who said: “I loved my job and the people I worked with. Everything changed in January 2012 and nothing has been the same since.”

It was then Baines, who was paid £45,000-a-year for his three-day week as chairman, stepped in to fill in the role of the departing chief executive.

Helen, 51, admitted she developed a friendship with Baines, in his 60s.

But she rejected claims she had led him on, and the tribunal found there was not a “shred of evidence” she would have been willing to have a sexual relationship with him.

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Helen won a national award for her HR management of the trust in 2013

I’ve been through hell and have to live with this every day

Helen Marks

Initially the pair exchanged text messages and enjoyed a good working relationship.

But then “things moved into an unhealthy area”, with Baines proclaiming he loved Helen, later kissing her in her office.

She said: “It was clear Baines wanted more from this friendship than I did. The harassment really started, the more I refused the harder the punishments.

"I was having serious issues trying to cope with all this. When I said ‘No’ that should have been an end to it. But it wasn’t.”

Little changed in February 2013 when Professor Steve Trenchard became £150,000-a-year chief executive.

By March Baines was texting abusive messages to Helen.

In one he called her “a whore” and claimed she was sleeping with a co-worker.

“There’s been a lot of focus on that one word. This was much more than name calling,” Helen said.

“This was pure abuse. I became scared, because Baines was threatening to tell my husband Peter I was having an affair with a colleague. It was complete fabrication. I tried to step away from this man and the relationship, but still had to have some sort of working relationship.

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Helen Marks has been left with mental health issues after the ordeal

“Baines would humiliate me in front of colleagues. He put more and more demands on me and intimidated me. Like everyone else there I did not dare challenge him.”

Feeling rejected Baines “orchestrated and engineered” a campaign to undermine the HR manager by inventing “spurious and unfounded” allegations that she had bullied staff.

An employment tribunal in Nottingham last July examined emails sent between Baines and Trenchard in which they agreed Helen had to go for the good of the organisation.

She was suspended in July 2013 but no allegation was put to her.

A month earlier she had won a national award for her HR management of the trust.

Her husband Peter, 62, said: “It was Kafkaesque, it was like being on trial, but with no telling you what you were accused of.”

On September 17, 2013, Helen tabled an official grievance against the trust.

Trenchard allowed Baines to resign with his reputation unscathed., said Helen.

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On September 17, 2013, Helen tabled an official grievance against the trust

Instead of undertaking an independent investigation, the trust held a review by a former friend of its vice chairman Mick Martin.

It was deemed “woefully inadequate” by the tribunal. “To this day no one has been disciplined over this”

“There were a number of times when they could have done the right thing, even just saying sorry, but no one did.

“There was an element of machismo within the organisation which was something I was trying to address. In the end I fell foul of it. Sadly I never realised just how hostile it was.

“I think they thought I would walk away silently.” Speaking of the effect her ordeal has had Helen said: “I don’t know how my poor husband has put up with it.

“My whole family has suffered. I now have a very real mental health issue which I’m getting help for.”

Helen said she felt “vindicated”, but added: “This can’t be allowed to happen again, this has been such a bad use of public money.

“I think they felt untouchable, they were arrogant, but there are people involved in this who are still at the trust, still sitting on the board. That’s a disgrace.”

Lawyer David Potter, of Freeths in Nottingham, who represented Helen, said: “In 30 years working in employment law I’ve only known two cases that have gone this far.

“It’s tough and most people would give up. It’s hard to take on a large organisation with deep resources”.

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